the mouths of babes...

Are my kids the only ones who are

smart, sweet, and just a little obnoxious? 

Does your child say things like "Are you kidding me?"

Or what about "No Thanks, that's yucky".

Has your child ever answered you with a

 "seriously?"

and you could hardly react because

you half way wanted to laugh and halfway wanted to...

go old school and tell 'em to get a switch. 
I mean they cut up.
I thought I was silly as a kid.
I had nothing on them, they have their own language,
secret meanings to words and it's intelligent humor too...
No more knock, knock jokes.
Brutal.

Where in world do they get this twisted sense of humor
 and what's with all this sarcasm?

 

Even my toddler gets in on the shenanigans

he runs from sit down time, bath time, bed time
and pretty much anything structured
(terrible twos too soon)

with a loud "AHHHH!"
or a "HELLLLP!"

as if A. I'm not his mother and

 B. he won't be running

behind me in five minutes with his arms raised

 begging me to "pick up"
 

I mean this kid is the real deal.

He unlocks a smart phone, tablet or computer

and chooses his apps and games better than some adults.
He counts like a preschooler, sings the alphabet loud and proud
I even tried teaching him the
American Sign Language alphabet.
Well...
that didn't last long
every time I showed him the letter "A"

he said "B" and gave me a fist bump.

 

He is just too much!

 

 

 

Girls night

 Saturday was rainy and gray so we decided to make it a girls day.

 I love these days, and nights.

I try to keep up with what's going on in their world and have a little 'girl talk'.

Plus it was the perfect excuse to bake cookies

 and of course there were movies.

 

The three Queens had their tiny toes soaked in the foot bath

 

 which my youngest son loves because somehow he ends up with a few handfuls of bubbles.

glittery polish;

such girly, girls.

 

 

 

 

After Mani-Pedi's we moved on to their hair regimens.

 

Pre-poo

Cleanse

Detangle/Deep Condition

 

 

Moisturize and Style(Braid)

Air Dry

Moisturize and Style again.

 

They're au 'natural so this entire process took us into Sunday for all three.

 

Ah, the joys of Motherhood. I just pray I am teaching them to care for themselves like the young Queens they are and that even as teenagers we remain this close.

 

 

 

 

 

 

new new in the kitchen

Okay, so I have been on the hunt for some fresh new recipes to try on my hungry family.
 

I'd like to think we eat pretty well.
 

When I say well, I mean healthy(whole grains, leafy greens and lots of fruit)

...but we are not health food fanatics by a long shot.

We love our pizza, and just about any other finger food you can think of

(tacos, burritos, cheese burgers, chipotle, chicken phillies, cheese steaks). MMMMmmmmmm, cheese steaks...*excuse me, my inner Homer Simpson just came out.
 

Back to the blog.

I am at a point where I am trying to change our diets and I know it doesn't happen over night...so we're doing a little at a time.

 

We do have a few food restrictions such as no dairy for one of our daughters

and our a protein complex carb diet for another.

We are also trying to cut sugar (replaced with natural sweeteners such as Agave and Maple),

simple carbs, food dyes and gluten when we can.

  

With all that said...we decided to give stuffed cabbage a try.
I know, I know...there's nothing new under the sun...
But this is new to us.

Same concept as stuffed peppers only the stuffing
(ground meat and rice(next time I'm going to try Quinoa (keen-wa))is wrapped in the blanched cabbage leaves and then cooked in the slow cooker, oven or stove top and topped with tomato sauce or soup.

How'd it taste?
Let's just say this dish is a work in progress for me. 😒
 

 

Back to the trip report...

Now where was I...

Ah. Day three. Hollywood Studios.

We start the day at Hollywood and Vine.

This restaurant has some of the best breakfast,

my husband had a bomb omelet made to order with sausage, bacon, shrimp, mushroom and green pepper...(isn't the hubby's order always just a little tastier)...

and did I mention it's a Disney Jr. character dine.

Just right for our 1 and 3 year old Disney Jr. fanatics.

Yeah right. 

Our 5 and 7 year olds were right there auto graph books ready

 and just as excited if not more than the younger kids.

 

After breakfast we headed for FASTPASSES to Toy Story Mania. Glad we did because we were some of the last to pick them up. Apparently people line up for ROPE DROP to get these passes and by the time we were done with breakfast at 10:30 our passes were stamped for 9pm. WOW.

Hollywood studios has a totally different vibe than Magic Kingdom and that's alright because that was just what we needed...easy breezy. The kids loved the Honey I Shrunk the Kids play land.

 

 

The larger than life garden complete with buzzing bees and giant ants was just a little too much for the Baby Girl so we headed over to see the Little Mermaid live.

 

After this show it was time for lunch which we LOVED so much it is now a family MUST DO on EVERY Disney trip. Lunch at the Sci-Fi Drive in Diner. I mean if you love buffalo wings, bacon cheese burgers and milkshakes while watching old school cartoons and Science Fiction movies...this is your place!!

 

 

 

After this we headed back to the hotel for a break and returned later that night for Toy Story Mania, which was all kinds of awesome!

Up next...our last day at Dis, things head South, souvenirs, tears and the flight home.

 

 

The weirdest thing in Mommes' purse...

An extra tooth..

 

 

 

Now I wouldn't just pull a tooth out the bag and leave you hanging. Here is the back story...

Our oldest lost her first tooth at school. The school nurse being sweet and ever-prepared put her little tooth in this tooth saving treasure chest and sent it home with her. Come parent pick-up I was surprised to find my baby girl all cheesy and snag-a-tooth. I thought it was so cute I decided to save the tooth and the treasure chest in my jewelry box.

Fast Forward----> Our second daughter starts to shed teeth. Amidst all the excitement over loosing a first tooth and wondering how many dollars she would get, "oooops! Momme I lost my tooth". TEARS galore!! "Don't worry baby, Momme will find it". After looking and looking, when I could not find it I decided in order to quiet the crying...I would pull a tooth-switcher-roo (don't judge me, just read Dr.Seuss).

Needless to say the tooth in a treasure box saved the day(more Seuss, smh). Not only did this tooth come in handy that once but I have used this tooth a total of three times and I still have 2.5 children to loose baby teeth. So, this little treasure box is now kept in a make-up bag, inside my purse.

Don't be shy...follow and forward to a friend. Also, feel free to leave a comment below...what's the weirdest thing in your purse/man-bag?

No idea about Kindergarten.

Our five year old son started Kindergarten this year. Oh-M-Gee was he excited! See, his sisters had both been in school a couple of years but when we moved...new state, new laws. Early Childhood education is quite expensive here and well, I am an educator so...DS(Dear Son...for those new to the blog-age) stayed home with me for Pre-school and Pre-K.

He was sooooo excited his first week or so. He came home everyday talking in his OUTSIDE voice about how many recesses he had, what lunchtime was like, his desk, his back pack, his teacher, his friend...on and on and on. He sits at the green table and his best friend is SIX YEARS old (a big deal apparently). He has a music teacher named Mrs. Sunny and she either smells, or sings, or both...really GOOD (*it's really well son---told you I'm an educator). Oh, the tales he did tell that first week.

Week two point five. A different story. He comes home talking softly. He pulls off his shoes and socks in the middle of the living room floor. *Sigh* He's so tired. He just wants a snack and "where's the remote?". By the way he says, Coby and Ryah (little brother and sister) have no idea what Kindergarten is all about". Oh really?---

"What is Kindergarten all about?"

"WELL, we have to have morning meeting, and then daily five, then we go to the carpet and then back to our table groups and we have to do writing and then line up and there's no talking in line...not even to your best friend, not even in a whisper".

"Yeah, they have no idea son". I laugh to myself.

24 hour stomach bug

It came. Wrecked havoc. It went.
We survived.
The washing machine???
It's in intensive care.